By Any Means Necessary
by ChaserGrey
Summary: Twenty years after the Reaper War, slavers have abducted Shepard and Garrus' daughter. A new side of the famous Commander emerges, one that will tear the galaxy apart to get what's been taken from her. Result of a prompt so cheesy I had to take it.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This comes out of an online exchange. Prompt was a Mass Effect version of _Taken, _my favorite bad movie. Ridiculous exploitation plot aside, this one's been taking over my head. So here you go. I'm also working on a rewrite of_ One, Squared, _but no timetable on that._

"Everything's so different here!" Ashley Shepard's voice practically vibrated with life as she spoke into her wrist comm, bustling around the room she'd been given as she worked on unpacking. "I mean, granted, it's usually a skeevy kind of different and everything kind of smells like a varren peed on it and then died. But everything's so exciting, you know? Like you're on the edge, and anything could happen any time."

At the other end of the link, Garrus Vakarian sighed and ran his hand over his face. "That's because anything can happen there, Ash. You need to watch yourself." Not for the first time, he wondered if he and Jane had gone wrong with their eldest. In the aftermath of the Reaper War it had been natural to hold her close after years of having things they loved snatched away, and there had been a lot of threats back then, with everyone from Cerberus holdouts and pissed off Batarians to Reaper cultists and pirate gangs gunning for the Savior of the Galaxy. Ashley hadn't been spoiled, he and Jane both turned out to be better parents than that, but she'd been sheltered and had always retained a trusting, innocent, and somewhat naive edge from that. Garrus had been against her taking a trip to Omega with school friends, but Jane had surprised him by taking their daughter's side- the trip was short, Ash had handled rough places like the Citadel and Tuchanka before, and in any case their daughter would be eighteen in another six months and needed to start making her own decisions.

"I have been, Dad." Ash's voice had that singsong I-love-you-but-you're-exasperating tone human teenagers seemed to have transmitted through their genetic material. "We even got some guys to walk with us from the spaceport so we wouldn't be alone." Garrus felt his fringe stand up and leaned forward.

"So they know where you're staying? Who are they?"

"Daaaaad." Ash's voice had a definite edge to it now. "They're just some guys who were on the same transport. They don't have our extranet and they didn't try to come inside or anything. I thought you'd appreciate that I was thinking about security and stuff."

Garrus sighed. "It was a good impulse, Ash, just bad execution. Chances are it's nothing, but-"

"What was that?" Garrus sat up straighter at the edge in his daughter's voice, as a muffled thud sounded in the background. The comm went silent.

"Ash? Ashley, what's happening?" Ten seconds passed, twenty, and then Garrus heard his daughter say something that turned his guts to ice.

"There's someone here. I'm under the bed but there's someone here and they're coming."

"Damn!" The curse slipped out before Garrus could control himself, but he consciously throttled his voice down. "Ashley, I need you to listen to me. They're going to find you in a few seconds. I need you to tell me everything you can about them. Keep shouting until they turn the commlink off. Your mother and I will find you, you understand?"

"O…okay." Ash hitched in a breath, and Garrus knew she was crying softly. "There's three of them. A human and two turians. No face paint on the Turians, kind of _kiyekablend_ shells." Garrus nodded unconscious approval- she'd dropped into Turian, where a single word could substitute for "motley-brown like fresh earth, somewhat battered." "Can't get a good look at the human, but they're all wearing black jackets with red stripes around-" Ash's voice broke off, and Garrus clenched his mandibles at the scream that came next. He stayed silent until another voice came over the comm.

"Who is this?"

Garrus' voice was as soft as a snake's hiss. "This is Garrus Vakarian of the Council Spectres. My wife is Commander Jane Shepard, who you may have heard of. I'm giving you the chance, right now, to let my daughter and her friends go. If you walk away from this, then just this once I'll forget what I usually do to scum like you, and I'll walk away too. But if you don't, I will hunt you down the way I've hunted pirates, slavers, terrorists, Reaperspawn, and the god-machines themselves, all across the galaxy. I will find you. And then I will destroy you and everything you cherish."

A pause. For an instant Garrus let himself hope. And then, "Good one. But I'll take the chance that the Shepard kid isn't on Omega by herself. Goodbye." The line went dead.

Garrus stared at his comm unit for precisely ten seconds, bringing his thoughts in order. Then he stood, heading for the locked room in the basement of the house they'd built on Horizon as he punched for a local connection.

"Garrus?" Jane's head and shoulders appeared over his com unit, brow knitted. "Garrus, can this wait. I'm on my way to pick up-"

"Shepard." His tone cut her off right away. He hesitated, knowing the next words he spoke would make this nightmare real and indisputable. But it was, and minutes mattered now. "Shepard, it's Code Black." Jane's eyes widened and her hand came up to her mouth in shock, tears in her eyes. Then the mother of five adopted kids was gone, and hard green eyes looked back at him. He saw her punch a control on the skycar's comm unit."

"Recording. Go." Garrus began to speak, and Commander Shepard listened.


	2. Chapter 2

Twelve hours later, Garrus and Shepard stepped through the airlock and onto Omega. One of the advantages of living on a small colony world was knowing nearly everyone in the settlement, so getting someone to check up on the other kids for a few days hadn't been a problem. Getting a fast transport to Omega would have been another problem, but as luck would have it the SSV Liebnitz had been passing through Horizon system at the time. Captain Jason Prangley had been more than willing to loan a long-range fightercraft to two of the people who'd saved his life during the Reaper War, and Shepard had been hard-pressed to talk him out of calling for an assault carrier, invading Omega, and having Marines search every square inch of it until they found Ash. Anything that overt would probably lead to the slavers tossing their suddenly red-hot prisoner out of an airlock. If this could be done, it would have to be done quietly.

And quickly. Already they were on borrowed time, gambling that the slavers had gotten Ashley off Omega as quickly as possible. That gave them a manageable number of departing ships to trace, but that was only good until the first vessel made planetfall and transshipped its cargo to another. The potential connections only exploded out from there, much faster than they could hope to move. They had, at best, another hundred hours before their daughter could be anywhere in the Galaxy.

Which did absolutely nothing to improve Garrus' mood when a massively built human stepped in front of them and held up his hand. Shepard looked at him with a glare that could melt lead.

"You're in my way." Her voice was cold as space. "In ten seconds you won't be. Up to you how gently I do it." The man rocked back a bit- this was definitely not how the famous Commander Shepard was supposed to talk- but recovered quickly enough to beat his deadline.

"Commander Shepard. Aria wants to see you."

Shepard's lips twisted in what Garrus would never, ever call a smile. "Glad to hear it. It'll save everyone a lot of trouble."

Afterlife was every bit as dark and loud as Garrus remembered, long blue tunnel leading into a densely packed main room full of dancers and drinkers. Even the few minutes it took to shove their way through the crowd and over to Aria's dais made Garrus' skin crawl, unable to see anything but a clock ticking down to zero.

"Well, well." Aria's voice was smug as always as they walked over to her table, arms stretched out over the back of her couch with elaborate indifference. "Twenty years, Shepard. You don't call, you don't write, and now you just walk into my little kingdom. I'm guessing you want something."

Shepard nodded, shortly, and sat down in a seat opposite her. "I'm looking for a gang based out of Omega. Humans and turians, maybe other species too. Colors are a black leather jacket with a red stripe. Know them?"

"I do." Aria's lips pursed slightly. "On the other hand, they're good customers who pay their protection money on the first of the month. After whatever this is, you're going to go back to being a good little housewife on Horizon. Fortunately, I've just got a little job I need-"

It was a testament to Afterlife's soundtrack and general sleaze index that the noise of a pistol being fired didn't bring the place to a grinding halt. It did send Aria's guards into motion towards Shepard, but they just weren't up to the standards old Grizz had set- Garrus was out of his seat and covering them with a shotgun before they could take their third step. Shepard didn't move, eyes focused on Aria and the smoking hole in her couch upholstery, six inches to the left of her head.

"Listen up, you blueberry bitch!" Garrus had never heard Shepard use that tone before, and it scared him on a level usually reserved for Reapers. "My oldest daughter was abducted by that gang twelve hours ago from an apartment here. I don't have time to make nice, jump through hoops, or do fetch and carry." Shepard leaned forward, teeth bared. "You will tell me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, or so help me God I will burn this place to the ground, kill all of your men, and leave you giving five-credit blow jobs to a krogan just to pay your oxygen tax."

Garrus had never seen Aria T'Loak actually flustered before, much less with her hands in the air. He would have taken more time to appreciate it, but he was busy making sure the guards didn't get any foolish ideas about being able to outrun buckshot. But give her credit- by the time Aria spoke, her voice was under perfect control.

"Red Knives gang. Mostly Citadel based, but they've got a bag-and-tag operation here. Only transport they've sent in the last day went to the Citadel. Guarantee your girl was on it, they don't like to hold onto merchandise." Aria lowered her hands, slowly, and Shepard flipped the pistol back into her holster.

"Merchandise. I like that. Can't say I think much of your business sense, Aria."

The asari smirked. "Oh, there's the Head Girl Scout back again with the boring speeches. I kinda liked your Dark Passenger there more."

Shepard stood. "Don't worry. If your information doesn't pan out, you'll get to see her again. Up close and personal." Aria looked at both of them, eyes narrow.

"I'm not stupid, Shepard. And if I want to commit suicide, i'll do it the old fashioned way with a gun. Not by Spectre. Now for the love of the Goddess Eternal, get off my station and don't ever come back. You've got that look that means things are about to go boom and I'd rather they weren't here."

"Boss?" One of the guards in front of Garrus craned his neck a bit. "Boss, you don't want us to rough them up?"

Aria laughed, completely without humor. "Oh, I'd love you to. But none of you would do much more than give them a workout. Know when you're out of your league, Nassus. Now show them to the exit."

Walking back towards the spacedocks, Garrus caught a familiar face in the crowd. And another next to it, one that made him stop dead. No. There was no possible way-

"Miranda." There was no hint of surprise in Shepard's voice, but there hadn't been a hint of much besides rage there for a while now. "And Jack. How'd you get here?"

"And since when can you be in the same room without trying to tear the whole station apart?" Jack grinned at that, sneaking a look over at her taller partner.

"Don't get any ideas, Garrus. The cheerleader and I just have a little cease-fire going, since somebody mentioned there was a Code Black on." Her gaze snapped around again, catching Garrus dead-center. "I know she ain't my kid. But she kinda is. And that means if anyone fucks with her, well, I've just got to fuck back."

"Charming as ever." Miranda shook her head. "But basically accurate. We heard there was an emergency-"

"And how was that, exactly?" Shepard's voice was tight. This was new. She didn't like new. Not in the middle of an op like this.

Jack laughed. "Come on, Shep. You may be retired, but seriously? You really think you can jet from Smallville over to Omega and not set off a few people's alarm bells? It's all knowing what to look for." She looked down for a moment. "Hell, if I'd taken some leave and played guardian angel for Ash like I wanted, maybe-"

"Stop." That was her command voice again. "You're here to help?" Both of the other women nodded. "Then no ifs, maybes, buts, or anything else. We are getting Ashley back, and we can sort out recriminations, responsibilities, and collateral damage afterwards." Normally Garrus would have taken that as a laugh line, but he was still getting used to this new Shepard. Her head turned as precisely as a gun turret, tracking on Miranda. "You have transport?"

"Um. Yes." Miranda coughed slightly. "We-"

"By which you mean you, cheerleader."

"- own a four-place courier. Fast, long ranged, and with only two in it you could practically set up housekeeping there. Not that I'd do such a thing, of course…" Miranda trailed off, but Shepard didn't even seem to notice. She chopped her hand down.

"Good. Then mount up. We've already seen Aria, and it seems we have an appointment on the Citadel."


	3. Chapter 3

Ashley Shepard sat in the dark and wept silently. She was frightened, even more than when she'd seen her first Thresher Maw when she was six. Her wrist was raw around the bare metal shackle that chained her to the metal bunk she lay in. Her mouth was parched from the dry ration bar they'd made her choke down. Her gut churned around the bar and she had no way of knowing when the guards would come back to let them make a head call. Ash was thankful she hadn't been the first one to break and call for a guard to take her to the toilets, back when they'd first been brought here. She'd been thinking about it, but Kara had broken first, her friend Kara whose cousin owned the apartment they'd been staying at on Omega. The guards had come, and taken Kara, and all the other captives heard the screaming from across the hall.

It went on for a long time. Nobody asked the guards for anything after that. Kara hadn't come back.

Ash thought about that and almost whimpered, but bit down on her tongue instead. The guards might be listening, and she wouldn't give them that satisfaction. But right in that moment, she would have cheerfully thrown all the captives, friends and strangers, out an airlock just to hear her mother tell her everything would be all right.

Mother. She was going to be so mad about this. After all, she'd been the one who let the guys from the spaceport walk with them, gave away their locat-

No. She wouldn't think like that. A bit of one of her mother's stories came back to her. When you're in trouble it's no good dwelling on how you got there. You need everything you've got figuring how to get out.

So what would Mom do? Okay, not the best question. Mom would already have broken through her cuffs, killed a guard with her bare hands, taken his weapon, and convinced the entire transport crew to surrender because she was Commander _Fucking_ Shepard. But what would Mom do that Ash had a chance of actually doing?

She'd fight. Somehow. A direct approach was out- Ash had seen at least six guards, and they kept her chained up except for head calls covered by a shotgun. But- _Battles happen everywhere- ground, air, space. But the only place that really matters is inside your head. Gather information. Gather allies. Wait for your moment. As long as you're still fighting the battle inside your own head, you haven't lo_st.

Right.

"Hsst!" No response, so Ash did it again. "Hsst!" A pause, and then a voice came back from the bunk over hers, soft and human and scared.

"What are you doing? If we make noise they'll come back and take us like they did that other girl!" Ash licked her lips. The possibility was there. But if she didn't fight, she'd already lost, and she'd be damned if Jane Shepard's daughter was going down this easy.

"So stay quiet. If I hear them coming I'll make a sound like this-" Ash pushed with her wrist, grinding her cuff over the metal of the bunk's post. "- and we can shut up. They're about as quiet as a krogan birthday party, so we won't get caught." A giggle at that, with a hint of nervous hysteria. Well, she'd take it. "What's your name?"

"Summer." Human, like she'd thought. "Summer Mboya. Do you know-"

"No, I don't know anything." Ash took another swallow. "But here's what we're going to do, Summer. You're going to turn to the kid next to you and get her name. Then she gets the next one, and we pass it down the line. That way nobody will get left behind."

"Left behind?"

"When we get out." Ash kept her voice completely level- making a statement, not asking a question. "We're going to get our chance. We're going to take it. And when we do, we're all going to know everyone's name, so we make sure nobody's left. Got it?" There was another, longer pause. Then Ash heard the sound of whispers, soft as a breeze, starting to spread around the room. She closed her eyes, forced her mind blank, and began to listen to the roll of names the whispers brought.

She'd need it. Because they'd get a chance, at least. Her parents would make sure of that. And Ashley forced herself to believe that, because she needed to. _Troops can always tell when you don't believe in a mission. So you've gotta make yourself believe. That's the only way to pull off some of the sh- stuff I've done._

Thanks, Mom. Now don't make me a liar. Please?


	4. Chapter 4

One Mass Relay jump and a quick run at FTL later, and Garrus was hailing Citadel Control for docking instructions. Getting a berth wasn't as easy as it had been- twenty odd years after the War, the Citadel was still rebuilding and some wards were almost completely abandoned. Fortunately the words "Spectre priority" still had a certain cachet, and Garrus had no problems getting berths for their fighter and Miranda's scout. Which was just about the last thing on the Citadel that went as planned.

Their first unexpected factor was waiting for them when they docked. All nine feet of him, cased in scarred red battle armor and festooned with weapons. Shepard stopped when she saw him, but their conversation was predictably brief.

"Wrex."

"Shepard." That gravelly bass growl hadn't changed a bit either. Shepard crossed her arms.

"Didn't expect to see you here."

"Haven't you learned by now Shepard? A krogan is always exactly where he means to be. It's just that sometimes the universe has to move a bit."

"But shouldn't you be-"

"Standing by my battle-kin when they need it? Of course. I wasn't kidding about the honorary krogan thing, Shepard. Whoever these people are, they've touched the honor of Clan Urdnot. So I really hope you weren't planning on giving them one of your patented second chances."

Shepard shook her head. "Not this time. Allright, welcome aboard." Shepard stepped forward and shook the krogan's massive paw. "Now gear up. We've got a lowlife to interrogate, Wrex."

"Shepard." Wrex fell in next to Garrus, giving Miranda and Jack only a quick sideways glance. They were with Shepard, the look said, and that was good enough, but it didn't mean he was interested in talking to them. On the way to C-Sec the two biotics started bickering- quietly, they knew better than to draw Shepard's attention right now- apparently continuing an argument Garrus could only guess at by inference. From what he gathered it had started when Jack reprogrammed the voice file on the yacht's VI, but it seemed to have expanded outwards to encompass sleep habits, personal hygiene, Cerberus, the finer points of biotic control, who was the better pistol shot, and basically incompatible philosophical approaches towards life in general. More to break the silence than anything else, because Shepard was _still _being scary quiet, Garrus interjected with,

"So, you two fighting again?"

Two identical glares snapped around to pin him. "_Just_ what is that supposed to mean?" Miranda's voice was cool, tart. "Are you implying that we're some kind of couple?"

"Um." Garrus had a strong feeling that whatever he said was going to be wrong, so he went with his first impulse. "Well, you do seem to argue like one sometimes."

"Shit, Garrus, thought you'd have figured out by now I ain't gotta fuck somebody before I fight with 'em."

"Good thing too. Otherwise you'd have an even longer list-"

"Oh my God, will you _shut the hell_ up, cheerleader?" Jack flicked her eyes back to Garrus. "Anyway. We may fight like a couple, but we don't need any of your shit over it, got it?"

"Because we're not. So you can take those ideas-"

"And wipe 'em the fuck out of your spiny skull. Got it?"

Garrus held up his hands in surrender. This was obviously not a fight he could win, and if it went on much longer Shepard might notice. He didn't even want to think about what would happen them. "Allright, allright. I'm sorry." The squad fell back into silence as they continued toward C-Sec. Even though nobody made a sound, Garrus still had the distinct feeling Wrex was laughing at him. Somehow.

Another familiar face was waiting outside of C-Sec. Shepard actually cracked a smile at this one. "Commander Bailey. Doesn't C-Sec have a retirement plan anymore?"

Bailey snorted. "That'll be the day. The only way those punks under me are getting my chair when they carry me out of the station feet-first. Besides, what would I do, grow corn on some backwater rock?"

"Don't knock it." Shepard leaned forward. "Did you get my message?" Bailey nodded.

"Alenko relayed it, yeah. Sends his regrets, by the way, but the Council has him off getting a cat out of a tree or disarming a superweapon or something." He hiked his thumb over his shoulder. "I got your man in Interrogation One. Let me know when you're done with him."

"About that." Garrus stepped aside with Bailey as the others moved towards the indicated door. "You do know Shepard and I aren't technically active-"

"Funny thing about that. I keep meaning to run a check on your Spectre status, but it hasn't gone through yet. Paperwork must have gotten lost someplace. Just remember," Bailey shook a finger mockingly, "I have a duty to intervene if I see you doing something horribly unethical. So make sure to get video, because I love watching your interrogations after it's too late to do anything about it." Bailey clapped Garrus on the shoulder. "So who's good cop?"

"I dunno." Garrus' gaze was locked on his wife, as he moved to catch up. "I'm not sure we have one anymore."

Garrus pushed open the door to Interrogation Room One. The room was dark, with only a single glow panel to put a spot of light on two chairs and a tale. In one of the chairs was Ilya Romanov, a meek-looking man in a suit who didn't look a thing like a slaver until you checked the eyes. He had the look of a man who knew the cops had nothing on him, and expected to be home after a few hours of boredom. Shepard stayed in the shadows, so Garrus slid into the other chair and leaned forward.

"They say you should always start with a joke. I usually leave that to a friend of mine, but I've got a pretty good one. How many Spectres does it take to beat information out of a two-bit slaver?" The man's eyes widened, just a bit.

"Spectres?" Garrus chuckled, darkly. Oh yeah. He knew he was in too deep now.

"Guess you give up. The answer is two. One to ask the questions-"

"And one to beat the living hell out of you until we get the answers." Jane picked the line up perfectly and stepped forward, the light catching her face- pinched, hard as stone.

Romanov nearly fell out of his chair. "Jesus Christ! Commander Shepard!"

"Wrong the first time, right the second." Jane put her arms on the table and leaned forward. "I'm in a hurry, so I'm going to ask you this once. You got some slaves in from Omega. Where. Are. They?"

Romanov raised his hands, palms up. "Look, Shepard, I don't know what's going on here. But I don't kn-"

"That wasn't an answer." A pause. "You know where I'm from Romanov?"

"Uh." The man shook his head, trying to catch the apparent segue. "Earth, right?"

"Chicago. It's a province now, but it used to be just a city." Jane drew back and circled around the table, her voice coming out of the darkness. "Always been a rough place, but we know how to deal with it. It's called the Chicago Way, and it's very simple." Her voice was right behind Romanov now, and suddenly her head lunged out of the darkness like a striking snake, bringing her mouth right next to Romanov's ear. The man jumped again, but Jane didn't break her cadence, her voice a harsh whisper. "You bring a knife, I bring a gun. You put one of my gang in the hospital, I put one of yours in the morgue. You kidnap. My daughter. And sell her as a sex slave." Shepard's voice rose with each phrase, until she was screaming in Romanov's ear. "Do you want to know what I'll do to you then, scumbag? Do you?"

"Shepard." His voice was pleading now. "Shepard, you don't understand. They'll kill me if I cross them."

"Yeah? That's real tough." Shepard walked around the table again, heading for the chair. Garrus rose automatically to let her sit, wondering where this was going. Nowhere good, he was afraid. "You know, I had a very well-connected friend of mine check you out, Mr. Romanov. Or should I say, Mr. Gregarian?" The man jerked in surprise again, and Shepard smiled as she laid datapads on the table. That smile...Garrus had never seen it before. He'd seen her grinning because a victory was won and her crew safe. He'd seen her teeth bared as she went into battle. He'd even seen the slow, honest one she saved for him, that always reminded him of watching the sun come up. This was none of them. It was a smirking, malicious little pout, the face of someone who's about to enjoy causing pain. "Yeah, that was a good fake ID, but pro tip- if you want to stay hidden, don't keep sending credits to your family back on Earth. Sister, husband, two kids- all survived the war, lucky you. They know where you get the credits that moved them out of the Refus camp, Gregarian? Do you tell them about the girls whose lives you destroy at family dinners? Or does that not come up?" She didn't give him a chance to respond, but his face began to turn bright red. "Mother just got admitted to Armstrong Medical on Luna for limb regeneration. Lucky lady."

Gregarian's face was deep red. "You trying to scare me now? I know you. The perfect Commander Shepard. You'd never hurt them."

"No. I never would." That smile got a bit bigger. "But I can hurt you." Jane tossed another datapad onto the table. "That? Is a Spectre order freezing their bank accounts as suspected proceeds of organized crime." Another one. "That's another one, requisitioning the apartment your sister's family was going to move into. Shame about the frozen accounts, but the camp can always take them back. And that?" Shepard tossed another datapad onto the table. "That is an emergency priority request for medical resources from Armstrong. A request that will just so happen to bump your mother pretty far down the priority list for treatment. No big deal, she'll be up eventually, and I'm sure she can manage with that robot leg for another few years. " Gregarian was white as a ghost and looked like he was going to be ill. Garrus felt like he was close behind. Who was this woman? Jane- Shepard- leaned forward. "I will sign these orders. I will make sure they go into effect. And then, only then, I'll kill you. So decide, Gregarian. Who do you think is more dangerous?"

The man held up his hands. "Enough! Okay, okay, you've made your point. The girls came in about a day ago from Omega. They shipped out this morning in two lots_. Errant Symphony _out of dock B17 for Hades Gamma, _Shadow Venture _out of E2 for Hawking Eta." The man was weeping now, holding his head in his hands to hide the tears. "That's all I know, I swear!"

"Not good enough!" Shepard slammed her palm down on the table. "Human girl, tall, athletic, blue eyes, long black hair. Which one was she on?"

Gregarian held up his hands, trying and failing to choke back a sob. "I don't know! I don't know, I swear it, I swear on my life and soul, I just schedule the ships, Pondam Vol handles the inventory assignments, Pondam Vol in Crytos Shatterward, I swear on my grandmother's grave that I don't know." His voice trailed off, and for a long moment there was silence in the room except for the sound of his crying.

"Okay. I believe you." Shepard swept all the data pads off the table and stood. "I'll tell Bailey to get you into witness protection. Just remember, if I find out you lied-"

"I know. I know. I'm not. I swear. Just go." Shepard turned and strode out of the room, Garrus a half-step behind her. As they cleared the door he leaned forward and hissed in her ear,

"Jane, what in the nine hells-"

"Not now, Garrus." That was all he got as she strode forward. He trailed in her wake, watching closely. All of a sudden, he felt like he was losing two of the women he loved.

Everyone stayed quiet on the walk back to the docking bay, trying not to set Shepard off and waiting for their next move. Far as Garrus could see they had several, none very appealing. They could check for cameras and interrogate witnesses near the two docks, hoping to get lucky. They could try to find this Pondam Vol, who they knew nothing about and lived in one of the lawless Shatterwards, still abandoned twenty years after the Battle of Earth. Or they could split up and try to trace both transports. Whatever they did, it was going to take _time_. Time for something to happen to Ash, or for her to be shipped somewhere else and reenter the web of galactic commerce. And that was exactly what they didn't have.

So when Garrus heard an annoyingly familiar voice call out "Hey! Shepard! Long time no see!" from the crowd, Garrus took a step forward and reached for his stun rod. Because they would be delayed even further if his wife snapped and killed someone here on the Citadel. Even Conrad Verner.

"Conrad." All things considered, Jane's voice was pretty level, a surface calm barely holding back star-hot rage. "Conrad, this is not a good time." The man held up his hands.

"Oh, sure, I get it. Probably looking for Ashley, right?" Shepard wheeled, and Garrus started forward, convinced Conrad was seconds from a very messy death. But when she spoke again, Jane's voice was still perfectly level.

"What do you know about Ashley, Conrad?"

Verner grinned wide, laughing a bit, apparently unaware how close he was to oblivion. "Come on, Shepard! I'm your biggest fan! I know all the kids, I keep up with them. I feel like I watched them grow up, you know, kinda like an uncle or something."

Garrus blanched. "We'll talk about that later." Behind him he could hear Miranda, Jack, and Wrex talking _sotto voce_.

"I don't think I ever had an uncle."

"You ain't missing much."

"If he doesn't stop babbling, think Shepard will let me eat him?"

"Why did you ask about Ashley?"

Conrad scratched his head. "Oh, hey, not trying to pry. Just that I saw her heading off towards B dock with some friends a while ago. She looked kinda out of it, like maybe she fell in with the wrong crowd. Huh, kids, you know?"

Garrus' mandibles splayed in shock.

In his peripheral vision, he was pretty sure he saw Miranda pinch herself.

"B Dock." Shepard's gaze was intent enough to melt armor. "Are you sure?"

"Oh, absolutely! They were using back passages, but I've got you and Garrus and all the kids written into this facial recognition software that I sorta hacked into the C-Sec system, so I was able to track her the whole way. She went to B-17. Got the chip if you want."

"Conrad..." Shepard trailed off, shaking her head from side to side for a long moment. Then she grabbed him by the hair and mashed her lips up against his. Verner's eyes went wide as the Citadel, and he nearly fell backwards. After a second Shepard pulled back, that same blazing look on her face. "We're even." She took off at a dead run towards their docking slip, squad in trail. Trailing off in the distance, he heard a faint "Call meeeeeeeeee", but that was the least of his worries right now. From behind him:

"Conrad Verner saves the goddamn day. Now I really have seen everything."

"Except a hair salon."

"Oh _fuck you_, cheerleader!"


	5. Interlude

_A/N: A stray scene that I realized should be in the story, but didn't really fit in Chapter 5._

Jack caught up with him on the way to the spaceport.

"Hey G." Her voice was light, nonchalant, the way it always was when she was talking about something really important. "You and Shep want to swap rides with us for the run over to Hades Gamma?" Garrus darted a look over at her, eyes narrowing a bit.

"That's a bit of a run. You and Miranda going to be allright in a fighter for that long? It's bad manners to give a loaner back with a breached hull."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jack glared at him, hands clenching into fists. "Look, just because we're on the same ship and not killing each other for this mission doesn't mean we're having some kind crazy lesbian biotic sex! We're not going to 'damage your loaner'"- her fingers came up to make quotes- "and I wish you'd get it through your head-"

"I meant you might-"

"God, Garrus, can you try to stay on the subject?" Jack's hands dropped again, and she sighed, looking down at the pavement for a moment. "Look, I was just thinkin' it's a little bigger, maybe you guys could talk or something. Cause I'll be straight with you G. I'd follow Shep to the ends of the universe. You know?"

Garrus shrugged. "Say I do. What's your point?"

Jack blinked, then leaned forward as she discreetly stabbed a finger at Jane. "My point is, I'd follow Shepard anywhere, so who the *fuck* is that? You know what she was always like about the helpless. Handing out medi-gel to wounded bystanders like it was candy. Breaking some punk's gun so he couldn't join the mercs. And for a soldier she sure spent a lotta time convincing people not to shoot other people- me an' Arotesh on Pragia, Mordin and Maelon on Tuchanka, hell, you and Sidonis on the Citadel."

Jack drew in a deep breath and pointed again. "That girl? Just threated to ruin a family's life, that didn't do anything wrong, as an interrogation technique. Don't fucking tell me she was bluffing, because we both know she wasn't. That girl doesn't give a fuck what she does as long as one person stays safe. And that needs to change, G. Cause if this bunch hits a station full of slavers and potential hostages, and Little Miss Kill-Em-All is still calling the shots?

"I'm afraid something real bad is going to happen."

"You and me both." Garrus sighed ran a hand over his face. "And you think I can what? Talk to her a bit and it'll be fine? Shepard was always the one that did double duty as ship's counselor, not me." Jack glared.

"Shit G, you're the one who married her. I think that kinda puts this in your court. Unless you want me to try."

Garrus inclined his head. "Point. We'll switch for the run out to the Mass Relay and take it from there after the jump. You need anything out of the scout?"

"Nah, I'm good. Just don't touch my stuff. The clothes, and guns, and stuff I brought with me temporarily because I am *not* living there. And maybe some music chips too, but that doesn't prove anything."

"Jack-"

"God, when will you people stop obsessing over this!"


	6. Chapter 5

Ashley lay in the dark, repeating the names to herself. Tiana V'sen. Bella Davis. Q'norl nar Tonbay. Twenty two in all, the names they'd passed around the compartment in secret whispers so that when the time came none would be left behind. And when she came to the end, she added the twenty third. Ashley Shepard.

She didn't know how long she'd been in here. The guards had brought food four times- if you called a ration bar and a pouch of water each food- but she doubted their kindness extended to feeding captives three times a day. Melina, a quiet turian girl, had somehow gotten a fairly bad burn on one leg during her abduction, and twice now a medic had come in and slathered medigel on it with all the expression of an engineer rendering down parts. That was all she had. They told stories to keep themselves sane, one at a time while everyone else listened for guards, played word games and hatched half-baked escape plans. Ash was careful about those- she wanted everyone still thinking about fighting back, but not so much they'd get everyone killed. So she made sure to join all those discussions, letting them go on but firmly cutting off anything that sounded too risky.

She was yanked out of a light doze by the sound of a key rattling in the doorknob, much closer than she should have allowed. Frantically she scraped her cuff against the bedstead in the warning signal, and just in time the whispering stopped. The door swung open, a rectangle of almost blindingly bright light, and Ash closed her eyes instinctively. Before she could open them again, she heard the heavy tread of boots on the floor, then a click as her cuffs were opened. A hand grabbed her under the arm and hauled her to her feet, and Ashley gasped in pain as her leg muscles, unused for hours or days, jerked tight as wires.

A muffled "C'mon" was all she got from the guard before he started hauling her along, leaving her to work the kinks out of her legs the best she could. Ash kept her head bent down, but flicked her eyes from side to side, trying to spot anything that might help. They had to stop at frequent intervals to pass through pressure-tight doors, but there was no telltale thrumming of a mass effect field under her feet. Not a ship. A station, probably, but still vacuum outside. Damn. Bare walls. Nobody in the corridors. And in a corner-

Ash threw her feet out going over the next pressure door, stumbling and sprawling down on the deck. Before the guard could turn she was already getting up, raising one hand to ward off a blow, yelling "No, don't, wait!". While that had his attention, her other hand pushed her off the deck, palming an object from an unswept corner the way Jack had shown her when she was six. By the time the guard grabbed her again she'd tucked it into the waistband of her underwear and was on her feet, making no resistance. The guard looked at her for a moment, then lowered his fist and grabbed her arm, confining himself to a growl.

"Watch where you're going, you stupid bitch."

It was still an opening. "Hey, I've been chained to a bed for a while, in case you hadn't noticed. Where are we going anyway?" The guard turned, grabbing her chin and yanking it up.

"We're going to see someone who wants to see you. That's all you need to know. Now shut up and keep walking."

Eventually they stopped in front of a blank metal door, no different from any of the others that lined the corridor. Ashley's escort palmed it open, gave her a push towards it, then- to her immense surprise- keyed her cuffs open before pushing her through it.

"Ah. Come in, my dear. Do take a seat."

Rubbing at her raw wrists, Ashley turned to see a small, slight, elderly man smiling up at her from the other end of a small dining table. His hair was iron-grey, close-cropped, and his eyes tracked her with a fixed gaze that reminded her of the arthropod predators they had back on Horizon. Even before she saw the submachine gun laid casually beside his place setting on the table, those eyes dissuaded her from making any kind of play for either the door or him. Something in them told her she'd be dead before she took her third step. She froze for a moment and the man made an impatient gesture. "Come, my dear, sit down. I know you must be hungry." His voice was mild, lilting, and might have been kind in another time and place.

Numbly Ash sat down, only now noticing that the table was set for two, with silver-covered plates and clear glasses. As her shock receded, Ashs' skin started to crawl. She didn't believe the Santa Claus act for a second, and thinking about what some kind of boss slaver might plan for a dinner date put a sick pit in the bottom of her stomach. But God, whatever was under that cover smelled good…

"Why am I here?" She blurted it out, only remembering at the end what happened to the other girls who spoke without first being spoken to. The man chuckled softly, lifting his plate's cover.

"Just to keep an old man company. Come now, my dear- if I'd wanted you stripped and brought here to me, don't you think I'd have done that? Just eat with me, give me someone to talk to, and you'll get a decent meal." Ash leaned forward and took the cover off her plate. The smells hit her full in the face- some kind of rich stew, thick with meat and vegetables, with two slices of thick, crusty bread smeared with butter. Before she could stop herself she'd snatched up the spoon that was her only utensil and taken a heaping mouthful, eyes going wide as she burned her tongue but still swallowing the entire mouthful. It was the best thing she'd ever tasted, hitting her stomach like solid bliss after days of nothing but protein bars. At the other end of the table she could see the old man smiling thinly. Fuck him. If this was his thing, she might as well play along and get some decent food.

"I had a feeling you'd see it my way." The man lifted his spoon and dug in, his eyes still watching Ashley. She forced herself to slow down, take small bites to keep her stomach from rebelling, think about how she might get some of this back to the others. The stew was probably a nonstarter, but maybe some of the bread-

"Tell me, my dear." She looked up from the food suddenly, listening carefully to her captor. Wouldn't do to be a dull dinner companion, under the circumstances. "Have you ever heard of the Skyllian Blitz?" Ash froze for a moment, then deliberately finished her mouthful, swallowed, and wiped her mouth with a napkin before responding.

"A little. I mean, mostly in school in Modern Human History. Some kind of big battle, right, after the First Contact War but before the Reapers?" _Keep your voice light. Don't panic. So he wants to tell war stories- don't give him a reason to think it means anything to you._ "Did you fight there?"

"That I did." He favored her with another glacial smile. "It was glorious. Dozens of different factions coming together around a common goal. Doing together what they never could do apart. Spitting in the face of the Alliance, and the Council, and everyone who tried to hold down the human spirit. And do you know what happened?"

Ash did, but she had a feeling _My Mom kicked your ass_ was going to be the wrong answer. "What?"

***

The smile vanished. "We hit a planet called Elysium. Just another crap little colony in the middle of nowhere, another name to check off our list. The garrison there held us off for four weeks, until relief forces showed up. We were pinned between them." His eyes grew distant. "They slaughtered us. I lost…many friends that day. Some of them were the only people in the damn galaxy I could trust or talk to." The smile was back. "But I'm sure you must have heard this story. Haven't you, Miss Shepard?"

Ash tried to stand and run, but her body was suddenly heavy and numb, and all she managed was an uncontrolled lurch backwards that ended with her flat on her ass, staring up at the ceiling. She tried to stand, but her arms wouldn't work, giving way like soft clay under her weight. Then the old man was crouching over her, grabbing her by the wrists and pushing her forward over the table. His hands, cool as snakeskin, pushed her shirt up, and Ash fought to clear her head. All she could manage was a trembling whisper.

"What do you want from me?" From behind her came a dry chuckle, and the sound of leather being carefully shaken out.

"A great many things, my dear. But first…all I want is for you to scream." As the nine-tailed whip came down against her back for the first time, Ashley bit her lip. No way. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

Eventually, she screamed.

***

Later, when they hauled her back to the room and chained her back up to the bed, Ash curled up into a ball and tried not to cry. After a few moments, she gave that up and just sobbed, rocking slowly from side to side. Her captor had worked her back over until it looked like raw meat, deep red score marks interwoven with purple-black bruising, pain that beat at her nerves until it drowned her under the sensation. She'd screamed. She'd screamed over and over, pleaded, begged him to stop, groveled before a man her mother had beaten decades before. She hadn't cared. She didn't want to be Commander Shepard's daughter, in that moment. She hadn't wanted to be rescued. She just wanted the pain to stop.

Eventually, it had. And then he'd told her, in precise detail, what he was going to do with her. Nothing more, for that night, before he threw her shirt back on and called the guard to bring her back to the cell. But it had been enough.

"Hsst." Ash raised her head at the hiss. It was Summer, the next girl over. "Ash. Here you go." Ash reached out blindly, and felt a small packet pressed into her hands. "Melina's been saving about half her gel when the medic comes, for an emergency. Sounds like that's you. It's not much, but do what you can." Ash felt her eyes tear up again. She wanted to say no, to save it for a life-threatening injury, but the wounds on her back were too deep, the pain too harsh for her to do anything but whisper thanks and try to paint it on the worst of her wounds. And when it was all gone, Summer reached out a hand, and Ash held it, and cried, the old pirate's words echoing over in her head.

_Oh God. Oh Mom, please. Please stop looking. Please don't find me._


	7. Chapter 6

"We're secure off the relay." Garrus pushed himself back from the scout's console, setting the board for autopilot and engaging the automatic detection protocols. "FTL looks good and we're in the groove. ETA to Cacus system, 30 hours."

His only answer was silence. Garrus turned to see Jane hunched over the small folding table that took up about half the scout's living area, staring sightlessly into the distance over a steaming cup of coffee. Just as he was about to clear his throat she shook her head and murmured, almost whispered,

"Too slow."

Garrus shook his head. "We've been over this, Shepard. The interceptor and Wrex's fighter don't have big fuel tanks. It's the best time we can manage." He hesitated for a moment, then unstrapped from the pilot's chair and walked back into the living area, sitting down opposite from her at the table. "Besides, I thought it'd give us a chance to talk about what happened on the Citadel."

For a moment he saw a flash of something- guilt? anger?- cross Jane's face, but then she lifted the mug and shrugged elaborately. "Don't know what's to talk about. We got what we needed."

"That's not what I'm talking about and you know it. Shooting a slaver in cold blood, well…that's one thing, though the Shepard I know wouldn't have done that, but Spirits! You were ready to wreck innocent people's lives to get to him! Somebody else might have thought you were bluffing, but I know better. You don't bluff. So would you mind telling me what the hell is going on?"

"What's going on?" Jane finally lifted her eyes up, burning bright green as her voice rose. "What's going on? In case you didn't notice, Vakarian, our daughter got fucking kidnapped! That bastard sold his soul to give his family a decent life, which meant he had exactly one weak spot. So I went for it." She pursed her lips, an edge of contempt on her face. "What? You think our little girl's not worth breaking some rules over?"

"Don't you dare." Garrus' voice was a low hiss, air leaking out around the metal plates in his face. "Don't you fucking dare, Shepard. This isn't about that."

"The kidnapping interrogation wasn't about the kidnapped girl?" Jane threw her arms up in the air. "Then what the hell was it about!"

"You!" Garrus slammed one hand down on the table, pushing himself up and leaning forward. "This is about you, Shepard. There used to be lines you wouldn't cross, not for anything. You wouldn't kill the rachni, even though you didn't know they weren't a threat. You wouldn't turn the Collector base over to Cerberus even if it would help fight the Reapers. Hell, you wouldn't let me put a bullet in Saleon back on the Fedele. I still remember what you said then. You said that I was better than that." He shook his head. "There I was, ready to pull the trigger on that son of a bitch, and the only thing that stopped me- the only thing!- was that you believed I was better and I didn't want to let you down."

Garrus sat again, his mandibles clicking as he tried to catch his breath. "That's the woman who stopped me from becoming a murderer. That's the women I married. So who's this?" It came out much more hurt than he'd wanted it to. Jane shook her head.

"So you don't approve of my methods. Noted. Anything else you want to get off your chest?" Garrus cocked his head.

"Does there have to be anything else? I'm worried about how you're acting." She snorted and threw herself back from the table, pacing as best she could in the close confines of the living area.

"No, come on, Garrus. I know there's got to be some other shit you want to get out in the open. I'm a big girl. I can take it." That heavy edge of sarcasm was still there, pushing him away, enough to make him snap,

"Dammit, Jane. Don't shut me out."

"Then dammit, Garrus, quit holding back!" It was a scream, as she suddenly turned, her face furious, hands clenched tightly into fists. "I know what you want to say! I know! You didn't want her to go to Omega! You said it wasn't safe! And I fucking insisted, I said she was going to be fine, that she was old enough, that nothing would happen." There were tears in her eyes now, and she had her arms crossed, nails digging into her forearms hard enough to draw blood. "Just say it, Garrus. Say it and get it over with. Ash is gone and it's all my…all my fuh- all my fault." She sank down to her knees, that mask of anger finally breaking as a sob broke through it. Jane leaned forward, weeping as she fell forward on her face, arms curling around her knees and drawing up. And Garrus damned himself for a fool.

This had happened before. During the Reaper War, when the whole galaxy was falling apart and it seemed the only person who could fix anything was the legendary Commander Shepard. She'd stopped sleeping as they chased Prothean artifacts, Volus religious texts, old Turian military standards, and missing family members across the galaxy, dodging Reapers and always watching the clock. She'd been unstoppable in combat, a warrior angel burning herself out to win her battles. She'd been an unshakeable friend, always willing to listen or help. And she'd never given a hint of what it cost her, right up until that night on the Citadel, when he'd found her hunched up in a closet, missing her own party to curl into a ball and whimper.

He'd sworn he'd never let her do that again. He'd been sure he could spot the signs of it. But he hadn't needed to, for two decades. Peace was hell sometimes. For instance, it made you think too much, even when the woman you loved was falling to pieces in front of you.

Slowly, carefully, Garrus moved forward and curled up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. She was shaking her head, telling him through the tears no, don't touch me, just let me be. Leave me. Save her. Just leave me to what I deserve because I'm a failure can't save everyone can't save anyone- she broke down again at that, and now Garrus turned her around, letting her burrow into his chest. He didn't stroke her, or soothe her, or tell her everything would be all right, because they both knew better. He couldn't promise that. But he could hide Jane, for a bit, from the dark part of her that was so eager to punish her mistakes that it would destroy her from the inside out.

Spirits take him now if he was going to allow that.

Eventually, when she'd quieted and just started shivering in his arms, he spoke in low, measured tones.

"We're going to get her back. You know we can. And we will. But you need to be at a hundred percent, and that means letting go of this nonsense about it being your fault." Jane shook her head, and Garrus rested a claw on the back, stilling it. "You could have agreed with me. I could have argued harder. Jack could have gone along. Anderson could have crawled out of that damn marble palace they built for him on Terra and strangled that slaving bastard with his cold, dead hands." He couldn't see it, but he could feel her smile against him. "Lots of people could have stopped this, Jane. Kind of egotistical to take it all on yourself, isn't it? Not to mention letting the people who actually took Ash off the hook."

He could feel her head shake from side to side, still pressed into his chitin. "Dammit, Garrus. Stop making sense. I had a real good head of irrational violence and crazy going there."

"Just returning the favor. Besides, when you're naturally right all the time it's only fair to share it." That got him a smack right on the exoskeleton, but then she sighed.

"I'll let that slide, Vakarian. But only 'cause I know I'd be dead in a ditch without you." Quiet, then, as they both curled in and he felt her breathing deepen. When she spoke, her voice was starting to slow and grow fuzzy with sleep. "I would have done it, you know. All of it."

"But you didn't."

"Mmmhm." Another long pause. "Probably shouldn't have kissed Verner either, huh?"

"Oh, I don't know. I think he earned that one. Besides, now we have to let all the kids meet Unc-"

"Garrus, if you finish that sentence, so help me God I will take your other eye." She sounded dead serious, but spoiled the effect by yawning. "Right after…right after…"

Garrus waited until he was sure she was asleep, then reached over and hit the comm panel. The hail went out twice before it was answered.

"Whaddya want, G?" Jack sounded out of breath and even more pissed off than normal. "Kinda in the middle of some…calibrations here. Your fighter needs them. In a lot of places."

"Just wanted to ask you to take watch for a bit. Shepard's asleep. And Jack? She's back." A pause, then a deep sigh from the other end.

"Thank the sweet and nonexistent Lord. Okay Vakarian, go snuggle. Cheerleader and I can keep an eye out for you while we're. Flying. Got it?"

"Roger." Garrus felt like he was ignoring a contractual obligation to give Jack some kind of crap, but he didn't have it in him. All he could manage was palming down the lights, and letting himself drift off, wrapped tightly around his wife.


	8. Chapter 7

"Allright." Jane Shepard flopped back down next to her squad and chinned her suit's com on low-power mode. "The installation's just over that rise. One roving patrol of three, one bulk freighter type starship in cold shutdown, and looks like about four pressurized hab cylinders. That's gotta be them." The coordinates they'd browbeaten out of Gregarian back on the Citadel had lead them to Wormwood, an ice moon of the gas giant Treyarmus just big enough to have been shaped into a regular sphere. Garrus had to give the slavers credit- Treyarmus' strong magnetic field made it a favorite discharge point for tramp freighters, allowing ships to come and go from the area without attracting undue attention. Smart. Of course, not too smart, because they'd already done something terminally stupid.

Once Miranda's scout picked out the installation from orbit, it was simple to come in on the other side of the moon, drop down to low altitude, and land just over Wormwood's miniscule horizon. A few minutes' walk had them to their present position, hunkered down in an impact crater just short of the base. Now came the hard part.

"So how do we proceed?" Miranda tilted her helmet to the side as she asked the question everyone had been thinking. "I assume we want surprise."

"As much as possible." Shepard nodded. "Here's what I'm thinking. Garrus and I drop the patrol from long range. Then we go in with, hm, Jack through the front airlock. If they see three coming in it might take them off their guard long enough for us to clear the inner door." Which was the deadliest chokepoint in any vacuum-based assault, and they all knew it. "I spotted two one-man service locks a couple meters up on each side. Wrex and Miranda, once we have them all looking in that direction, cycle in and hit them from behind. With any luck, by the time they figure that one out they'll all be dead."

"I like it." Wrex spoke for all of them, and Garrus nodded as well. It was as good a plan as anyone could make with the limited intel they had, and he'd felt the tension disappearing in their little circle as Jane laid it out. This was the Shepard they'd follow into any battle, great or small. Garrus flopped down on his belly and crawled over the rise next to Jane, reaching for the back of his armor and unfolding the sniper rifle he kept there.

"Been a hell of a weekend, hasn't it Garrus?" Jane's voice was dryly amused as she unfolded her own weapon, the way she'd sounded before a hundred other battles. It made Garrus smile under his helmet.

"Little more exciting than usual," he allowed.

"Know what would relax me? Drinks at the Skylight Lounge on the Presidium. VIP section?"

Garrus laughed as he zoomed his scope in on the three figures walking across the moon's icy surface. "Why stop there? I'd go for a full steak dinner."

"Ooh. Someone's confident. Best of three?"

"Best of three." That was all the signal he needed. He heard the *thoom* of his rifle going off through the conductive plastic of his helmet, and the human in the lead staggered. A meter away in vacuum Jane's rifle was utterly silent, but Garrus saw the second man go down as a round from the Widow hit him with a speed usually reserved for orbiting spacecraft. Garrus pulled the trigger again, punching out the last of his target's barriers and sending him on a slow arc towards the surface, but when he swept the scope over the third man in line he was already ten meters back, splashed over Wormwood's surface. Garrus flared his nostrils in disgust.

"How _do_ you reload that fast?"

"Girl's got to have some secrets, Vakarian." Jane's voice was pure honey. "Now come on. Clock's ticking."

Charlie Ellis grinned to himself and laid his cards down on the table. "Full house, suckers. Read 'em and weep." The last couple days had been nothing but roses for Charlie. Light duty, a nice fat bonus coming his way from the last haul of new fish, a chance to taunt some SOB with delusions of grandeur over the com, and now the biggest run of luck he'd ever had at cards. Of course, that meant he'd be in for a lot of trouble once the luck turned, but this job taught a man to enjoy the present without dwelling on past or future. It was especially easy to take that view while raking in credit vouchers worth a month's wages.

Behind him, the airlock hissed as it went through its cycle, and Ellis frowned as he checked the security monitor. Three figures right enough, but what were they doing back so early? As the inner door cycled, he turned around.

"Hey, Harkin, why back so early? Better not be screw arou-" Ellis stopped in midsentence.

"Sorry," Commander Jane Shepard said as she pushed up her helmet visor. "Harkin couldn't make it."

"But I think I know you." The one-eyed turian next to her slid his helmet off, pinning Ellis with an amused stare. "We spoke on the com a while ago."

And in line next to them, Jack tossed her helmet to one side and surveyed the room. She smiled as her hands began to glow.

"Hello, dead people."

Garrus dropped to one side as the room unfroze, the assault rifle in his hands already blazing. Of the eight or so slavers in the room when they entered, three of them made the right choice and sprinted for the nearest door. The others reached for weapons that were inches from their hands, and died. Garrus' first shot sent the bastard he'd been talking to toppling back onto the floor, and another few seconds of autofire shredded the rest of his poker foursome. Next to him Jane gunned down another tableful, while the last two simply flew through the air in a shimmering mist until they hit one of the runners, smashing them all into a bulkhead with a sickening crunch of snapping bone. One of the other two runners crumpled next as Jane stitched a line of bullets up his spine. The last one made it around the corner, and Garrus could hear him babbling into the com about backup.

Garrus moved forward for cover, then turned his head. The slaver he shot first was, improbably, still alive. His mouth moved soundlessly as he stared up at the ceiling, his life oozing out onto the floor. Garrus smiled grimly as he bent down.

"Know what makes me mad, Shepard?"

"What?" Jane sounded abstracted, trying to pull some scattered containers together into cover.

"People who don't listen." Garrus leaned forward, speaking for the dying man's ears alone. "I tell them in advance that if they do certain things, I'll hunt them down and kill them. And a distressing number of them just. Don't. Listen." He pulled out his pistol, bringing it down to bear on the man. "They think I'm kidding. Or that I can't back it up. Or I'm too scared of their friends, or I've gone soft out on Horizon. And then-" he aimed the pistol- "just to keep from making myself a liar, I have to do shit like this."

George Octavian flattened himself against the wall and took a breath, signaling to his squad as they fanned out. This was going to get hairy and somebody was probably going to buy it, but he had no real worries about the outcome. The front room made a good killing ground, and unlike the people there his troops were fully armed and armored. The intruders were good, no question, but as long as he kept his men behind the barricades they'd either be worn down, or shot to pieces when they tried to assault.

There was a soft *ding* behind him, and a rush of air. Octavian frowned as he craned his neck back. The only thing causing that much airflow would be the emergency airlock cycle, and-

-And there was an eight-foot tall dinosaur right behind him, grinning as it pointed an enormous shotgun at his squad. From behind their carefully constructed barriers.

"Oh, fuck."

Urdnot Wrex didn't aim. He didn't have to. He just held down the trigger on his Scimitar and swept it over the barricade with a smile resembling a thresher maw's. A few seconds later his clip popped out, and the last gutted body dropped to the floor.

"Left is clear, Shepard." Wrex moved to cover the hallway, mentally mapping out doors. After a pause, he looked backward and added. "No opposition."

On the right, things weren't going as well. Miranda was a capable soldier, but she lacked the pure punch of an armored krogan. She'd taken out the first two troopers she'd seen with cool efficiency, but the rest had her pinned down behind a crate which was starting to splinter at an alarming rate. A few yards away, Garrus gritted his teeth and tried to flatten himself against the curving wall of the hab module. It sounded like there were reinforcements coming down the corridor, which could trap Miranda against the survivors of the first barricade. Bad.

"Getting hot over here!" Miranda's voice definitely had an edge to it now. "I could use some help." Beside Garrus, Jane keyed her com.

"We're working on it, Miranda. Can you give us some cover fire on the barricade?"

There was a dry laugh over the channel. "Funny, I was about to ask for the same thing. But I'll see what I can do." A second later, Garrus heard a renewed flurry of shots, and felt the fire coming at him slack off. A pause. Then more firing, and a sharp scream over the com.

"_Miri!_" Jack was off the ground an an instant, so fast that Garrus started at her for an instant before he got moving. The barricade came apart as Jack's entire body flared with power, the fortifications and the men behind them pulped from the inside out. Jack barely seemed to notice as she vaulted over the remains and headed for Miranda's position. Reinforcements came around the next corner, and Jack gestured with one hand without taking her eyes off her goal. The slavers vanished in a flare of lightning.

Miranda was lying on her back, eyes shut and with blood smearing over the front of her suit as she struggled to breathe. By the time he'd gotten the medigel out Jack was already bent over her, pushing down to try to staunch the bleeding. She snapped her head around, and Garrus almost flinched back at the look in her eyes.

"Come on, Vakarian. Get your ass over here and, no, Miri, stay with me, you've gotta stay with me, just keep breathing and we'll get you out of here." Garrus knelt down next to Miranda, brushing Jack's hands aside and applying medigel to the wound. Nasty, but it looked like the bullet had missed any big arteries and there was no sign of sepsis. He packed the wound with a thick coat of gel just to be sure, then pulled out a patch of synth-skin to cover it up.

Jack looked over at him, her expression a mix of pain, fear, and nearly berserk anger at the same time. She looked like a lost little eight year old girl, if that eight year old girl was about to go on a shooting spree. "She going to be OK?"

"Fine." Garrus forced confidence into his voice as he reached a hand out. Jane had come up behind him, silently, and pushed two syringes into it- one broad-spectrum anti-infection jab, and a dose of the Spectre's Unity combat drug to get Miranda back on her feet. "Your concern is touching, though."

"Whatever." Jack's expression started to return to normal as she rolled her eyes. "Not what it looks like, G."

"Mmm, Jack." Miranda's voice was woozy as she started to come around. "Harder next time, I've been a _very bad girl_." Jack buried her face in one palm.

"Allright. So it's exactly what it looks like."

"Commander Shepard." Garrus started as a voice started to come from the overhead speakers. "So glad to see you at last. My name is Marcus Allen, and I'd like to talk to you. Channel Nine, if you're interested." Garrus' hand went to his headset, automatically switching over in time to catch Jane's reply.

"And why would I do that?"

"I think you know. But just in case." Allen's voice cut off. The next one he heard over the com made Garrus' heart stop.

"Mom? Mom, he's got me here, me and a bunch of other girls. He's got some men with guns and they-" Ashley cut off abruptly, and Allen came back.

"Yes, yes, my dear, just prove my bona fides without giving away any information, thank you. Do I have your attention, Commander?"

"Okay." Jane's voice was a harsh whisper, choked with tears, but it only reached Garrus' ears. By the time she keyed the com, it was level again. "Okay. Let's cut to the chase, Allen. You're talking to me, it's because you want something. What?"

"A swap." Garrus' blood froze. "I've gotten all I want out of the Shepard daughter, so I'd like to trade up. You for the girl. I'll even throw in the rest of her lot once my men and I are off this iceball. Now I know you have a squad of ruthless killers out there figuring out ways to make me dead, so I'm keeping this very simple. I'm going to count to ten, and if you haven't agreed, I'm going to shoot the lovely Miss Ashley in the head. One." Jane's head snapped around, her eyes wide. "Two." She silently begged Garrus for something, anything, as he sifted through his omnitool trying to lock down the transmission's source. "Three. Four. Five." Garrus' fingers worked faster, trying to find something that would let him save his wife and daughter. "Six. Seven. Eight." Looked up. Shook his head. Despaired at what he saw in Jane's eyes. "Nine."

"Allright!" Jane yelled the word out, took a breath, then repeated it. "Allright. I agree."

"Wonderful." The satisfaction in Allen's voice made Garrus want to strangle the bastard with his own guts. "We'll bring Ashley down to the main axial corridor. Just keep moving and follow the signs. You can't miss it. If you're not there in sixty seconds, well, I can hardly threaten my only bargaining chip. But I can shoot another one of the young ladies here, and another one every ten seconds until you do show up. Clear?"

"Crystal." Jane spat the word out and got to her feet, Garrus behind her. Jack made to rise, but Shepard waved her down with one hand. "One more won't make a difference for this one. Get her stable and ready to move. You won't have much time." Jack's eyes were dark rings as she looked up at Jane, momentarily speechless. Before she could say anything Jane grinned a bit, astonishingly. "See you later." And then she was off.


	9. Chapter 8

It was a perfect setup.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a perfect setup for them.

The installation's central corridor was about fifty meters long, but barely wide enough for three people to stand shoulder-to-shoulder. In defiance of all good-sense spacecraft engineering, there were no pressure bulkheads, service hatches, or other structures along its length. Nothing to use for cover. Which meant that two of the three men at the other end had a completely unobstructed field of fire for their high-end sniper rifles. Allen, in the center, had another figure kneeling in front of him, one hand clamped on her shoulder and the other holding a heavy pistol to the back of her head. Garrus drew in a breath.

"Mom! Dad!" Ashley's voice was raw as she looked up. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, this is all my fault." She was pale, hair stringy and eyes red, her wrists chafed where they were locked together in front of her by a pair of magcuffs.

"Yes, yes." That voice, still perfectly smug. "Don't worry dear. You'll have plenty of time to contemplate that soon enough. But for now, Commander Shepard, Mister Vakarian, your shields off, please. And you can drop your weapons carriers." Garrus gritted his teeth, but punched up his omnitool and stabbed at a couple buttons. His kinetic barriers flared and died, and the four-point weapons carrier on his back, normally an integral part of the armor, dropped down to the deckplates. "Very good. Here's how this works. I will give the go signal. When that happens, young Miss Ashley will walk towards your end, and Commander Shepard will walk towards mine. They will not stop, slow, pause, or hesitate. After the exchange is complete, you turn and walk away, and our business will be complete." Garrus felt a knot twist in his stomach. Tough setup. He and Jane would have their pistols, but they'd be starting without shields at a range extreme for pistols but ridiculously short for high-end rifles. He knew they were better than anyone over there. They could probably take them. But not before the thugs gunned down probably one of them, maybe both, and definitely Ashley.

"Understood." Jane's voice was as cold as rain on pounded sheet metal. Garrus felt the knot inside him twist and fold into rage. He stabbed a finger at Allen.

"You son of a bitch. Do you think you can get away with this? Do you think I won't catch you?"

Allen laughed. "Oh, Mister Vakarian. Based on your performance here, I have a very good idea of exactly when you will catch me. And if I play my cards right, I will manage to make your wife suffer for every minute of that time, just so you can watch the light go out of her eyes when you kick that last door down. You see, I don't care if I die, as long as this time I win."

Garrus' mouthparts splayed full-open, an unconscious turian threat display that was the equivalent of a scream of pure rage. "You sick bastard! If that's your deal, then maybe you can just-"

"Hey." Garrus turned his head, and saw Jane with a funny little half-smile. The same one she'd had when he first told her that he loved her. The same one she'd had just before she proposed on the Citadel. The same one she'd had, watching Ashley in a cradle in the orphanage nursery while the paperwork cleared. "Garrus. Don't blow this."

"Dammit, Shepard, weren't you listening? He's going to torture you to death. Hell, he'll probably kill us once he's got his hands on you."

Jane shook her head. "Nah. I know the type. It's no good for him unless there's a survivor to suffer afterwards. He'll let you two go." Her smile flickered just a bit, took on just a hint of an edge, one Garrus had last seen when she told the Hammer forces that once they broke through the Reapers would be finished. "And then you stay on his tail, and extract me."

"Spirits! That's not an extraction plan, Shepard, that's self-immolation. You know he'll probably have you wired to some kind of deadman switch. Which means-"

"What?" She leaned forward. "Which means what? I die, Ash lives?" Garrus felt a flash of decades-old guilt at that. Last time, on Virmire, Ash died and Shepard lived, and he knew part of her had never been able to forgive that. "Worse case, yeah. Unless you'd prefer it the other way round. That the way you want me, Garrus?"

Garrus' fringe drooped. He looked down at the floor, seeing the harsh light on it blur. "No." He could barely say it. But it was the truth.

"Okay. Then I have to go get our little girl back." A finger under his chin, and he was made to look down at her. "No matter what, I love you. Don't forget."

"If you two are quite finished?" Allen's voice cut through the moment like a buzzsaw. "I don't mean to rush you, but my trigger finger's a bit tired and it just might slip." Shepard scowled and tilted her head towards him.

"Allright, you bastard!" Looked back to Garrus. Smiled. Touched two fingers to her lips and pressed them to his mouthparts. Then turned away.

"Ashley." Her voice was loud without being a yell, perfectly calm. "When he says walk, walk." Ash opened her mouth, and Shepard held up a hand. "Don't argue. Just keep walking and don't look back, no matter what you see or hear. I love you." Ash was crying softly, but she managed to nod.

"Go." At Allen's word he pitched Ashley forward, and Shepard took his first step. Garrus didn't know where to put his eyes. At his Ashley, sunken-cheeked and sallow but coming back towards him…or at Jane, the only woman in the galaxy brave and smart and crazy enough to love him, walking away. Both of them walked towards the center, straight ahead. Ash's hands were squeezed tightly into fists as she drew within five steps of her mother.

No. Wait. They were moving.

Ashley kept her eyes locked straight ahead, her shoulders straight. She didn't let herself look at Dad, watching her come closer with entire body clenched fist-tight, or at Mom, marching forward with eyes fixed on her daughter's face. All her attention was in her fingertips as she plucked at the sleeve of her shirt, mapping the folds of it by touch and silently working out the motions she would have to take. There would be just one chance.

A half-step ahead of her she saw Mom's eyes flick away from her and towards Allen's men. Which meant they'd gotten her attention. Which meant that right now, they were all watching the Spectre, and not the hostage.

Ash jammed one hand forward, pushing as hard as she could. For a frozen, terrifying moment she was afraid she'd missed, lost her chance. Then the metal screw she'd grabbed on her first trip to see Allen slid home into the hole she'd laboriously made in her magcuffs, working the plates apart in the dark hour after hour. There was a small spark and the screw suddenly jumped out of her hands, burning the skin- but it shorted out the cuffs and left Ashley's hands free. Before they hit the deck she stopped, spun around, and grabbed the pistol off Mom's hip, snapping it up and praying she'd judged her moment right.

And then she knew she had. Allen's men had their muzzles covering Mom. She focused on the one on the right. Older man. Balding. Eyes wide as he took in the unexpected movement, muzzle of his rifle shifting to cover Ashley. Target. All she had time to think was that he was a target, just paper like at the range when she'd learned to shoot. Just paper, just paper, and then she felt the gun go off. Kept her eyes on the target as she pulled the trigger over and over, even when the first phasic round from Mom's hand cannon punched through his shields and burst his head open with a sickening splat.

A heavy weight punched into Ashley's back, and she hit the deck hard, air going out of her lungs. The force jerked her finger on the pistol's trigger again, round going high and spranging off the ceiling. She saw the other man's rifle come down to finish her, then saw it topple backwards as Dad's rifle spoke behind her. Then the weight came off her all at once, and a black streak slammed into Allen as he stood, gaping and still trying to process what was going on. He hit the ground, hard, and Ashley dared to look up at where Mom had him pinned to the ground.

Somewhere, far away, she heard a soft ping as the screw finally hit the deck plates.


	10. Chapter 9

Marcus Allen groaned as his head slowly swam back to consciousness. He blinked his eyes open, grateful something was at least blocking part of it. Then he realized that something was Jane Shepard, standing over the chair he was tied to. And that she was smiling.

"Have you ever seen someone die in space?" She didn't wait for him to answer. "The air rushes out of your suit. Your chest feels like someone's cracking it open from the inside. You can't breathe. You feel the blood vessels pop out of your skin. And then, just before you'd suffocate? Your throat lining ruptures, your lungs get ripped apart as the last of the air is pulled out of them. You choke to death on your own blood."

Shepard leaned forward, her voice almost like a lover's whisper in his ear. "I can tell you from personal experience that it's the worst way someone can die. Because it lasts just long enough for you to know that you are alone, that no one can help you, and that you are about to cease to exist. And then, just when the pain and terror are worst, before you can deaden to them- then it tears you apart. Worse than torture. Worse than burning to death. And it's something I swore I would never, ever inflict on anyone."

She drew back. One hand flashed behind his head. And Allen realized three things. One, he was in an airlock. Two, he'd been dressed in a space suit. And three, the Marine-issue combat knife had just sliced through one of his air hoses. Shepard grinned.

"So be proud. You're special enough for me to break my word." She took one step back, and slammed her hand down on a control panel. "Rot in hell."

The door slammed closed in front of her. The air roared out of the lock as the outer door open, ripping Allen loose from the chair and sending him flailing off into space. Wormwood's escape velocity was miniscule. He'd never stop falling.

And his chest was starting to hurt.

Inside the installation, Jane Shepard turned on her heel and faced the crowd in back of her. A half-dozen or so slavers who'd surrendered rather than back Allen's play. Jack and Wrex, who were watching them and visibly hoping for an excuse to cut their numbers down. Garrus, who was watching her with a strange look on his face, half proud and half sad. And Ashley. She couldn't look at Ashley yet.

"I didn't come here for prisoners." The slavers flinched at that. Jane locked her hands behind her back and paced along the deck, making eye contact with each one of them in turn. Not one of them could hold her gaze. "Fortunately, that's not what you are. You were all hired muscle. Mercenaries. Worked here, but this wasn't your operation."

She reached the end of her line and whirled around, an animal part of her brain thrilling as they all started. "So what you are? Is messengers. I want you to go to every two-credit dive on Omega, every hiring hall on Ilium, every refugee camp on Earth or Palaven, every backwater bumfuck colony with a two-man security detail, and I want you to pass on a message to everyone you see there."

Her voice rose. "You tell them that the next time someone comes after my family, I _won't_ toss them out an airlock. Because I swear to God Almighty that next time, I'll think of something even worse." Her lips skinned back from her teeth. "There's shit I saw during the Reaper War I still have nightmares about. Some of it I don't think can be done by human beings. But if this _ever_ happens again? I'm going to fucking find out. When I'm done, whatever gutless bastard laid a finger on one of my children will be begging me to toss them out an airlock."

Pause. "And then? I'd think real hard about finding honest work, boys. Because I have a great memory for faces, and if I ever see any of you after today, I'll kill you. Now get the cutters off that freighter and go."

A few hours later, Mom found her in the cabin she'd claimed in the old bulk freighter. They'd loaded all twenty three girls onboard, fed and medicated them as best they could, and were burning hard for the nearest Alliance world. Ash knew it was all they could do for them. But it didn't seem like enough. Because God, it was such a long way back.

"Hey, kiddo." And it wasn't _fair_, because it was Mom's voice, a little tired, but just the way it had always been. It should be different. Changed, somehow, by what had just happened. "How're you holding?"

All Ash could think of to say was the truth. "I threw up." After the tenth time she'd watched that merc's face dissolve into gore and bone behind her eyelids.

Mom laughed a bit, slid down the wall opposite from her, laying her hands on her knees and cradling her head in them. "Yeah. I did too. The first time, and the one after that."

Ash swallowed. "Does it get easier?"

"Yeah." Mom raised her head, and suddenly her face was vulnerable in a way that Ash had never quite seen before. "I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not."

"Dad on the bridge?" There it was, in the open. Ash hadn't expected either of her parents to let each other, or her, out of the room for at least a few days. It was just how they were.

"Yeah," Mom repeated. She sighed. "I don't think he quite sees me the same way, after some of the stuff we did to get you back. Some of the stuff I did."

"Neither do I." Mom's eyes went wide with shock, and Ashley shrugged. "He told me some of it, Mom. And you kinda blew a guy out an airlock in front of me, then threatened to kill more people in cold blood. I wanted to be there, I had to know he was dead, but the Mom who raised me and I grew up hearing about wouldn't do that." Ash paused, for just a moment, eyes filling as she crossed the room and slipped into her mother's arms. "But I'll talk to him, if he doesn't come around. Because even it's not quite the same…even though it can't be quite the same, how I feel is the same. I love you, Mom."

"I love you, Ashley." Somehow they were both crying now. "My beautiful, beautiful little girl…"

She didn't know, right then, quite how it was going to be all right.

But she knew that it was.


End file.
